


Windwalker AU

by LadyRWidow



Series: Windwalker AU [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang and Zuko-centric (mostly Aang right now), Air Nomad Genocide (Avatar), Cults, Drug Use, Emotional Manipulation, Fire Healer!Zuko, Gen, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Not a Pacifist!Aang, eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:09:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRWidow/pseuds/LadyRWidow
Summary: Ok, so I'm composing all my tumblr posts on the Windwalker AU into this story. This AU is the unholy offspring of the two prompts:What if Aang spent a couple of years immersed in a different type of airbender culture?andWhat if the nations weren't as divided as portrayed in the shows?If... y'all have questions about the story, the characters, or anything really you can either ask me on my tumblr or here guys :) I'm following a timeline for the story and there are some things I won't reveal until later, but a lot of things I can and will talk about.
Relationships: Aang/Zuko (Avatar), Eventually - Relationship
Series: Windwalker AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748830
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62





	1. Information on Windwalkers

**Author's Note:**

> 1st post: Information on Windwalkers  
> *Beware the tags they will be added to as I post more*
> 
> No triggers that I can think of in this chapter. 
> 
> Link to tumblr post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/617871276207472640/ive-been-developing-an-atla-au-in-which-aang-is
> 
> (My tumblr is dragonshoard ^^^^^)

I’ve been developing an ATLA AU in which Aang is not a pacifist. How did this happen, you ask? Whelp, best I can say is that his more formative years were spent with some... interesting folks. 

First of all, I consider it completely unbelievable that all air benders are pacifists. Second of all, no. Third of all, you can never have too much world building. 

Introducing: the **_Windwalkers_**. Sects of air benders that tend to migrate depending on the seasons, political climate, and conditions of the locations. 

##  **Characteristics** : 

  * Believe in experiencing the whole range of emotions: anger/rage, grief, happiness, fear, etc
    * Attach themselves to the world through experiencing these emotions. 
    * They share their emotions among the group whether it be pain, grief, or happiness. This can be taken to extremes depending on the group. 
  * Multiple types of sects within the actual culture. The most brutal/cruel consist of mostly adults with a few teenagers. The kinder (but still cruel in their own ways) consists of half children/teenagers. 
    * The difference sects have consistent interaction with each other. Have multiple festivals/gatherings throughout a year. 
  * ~~May serve as impartial judge/jury/executioners when called upon (for both the air nomads and other nations)~~
    * I rescind this :P Involvement with other nations depended on the group. Some would interfere when necessary (and sometimes unnecessary...) and others wouldn’t bother. 
  * Air bending with swords/staff swords. Air bending tends to be more lethal vs playful (cutting off air, literal cutting, sound bending). 
    * Windwalker air bending is more blended with other nations bending styles (primarily water and fire)
    * They’re almost the melting pot of the air-bending world
  * Pray to harsher spirits (brutal ideals; eye for an eye, vengeful, etc). Festivals/events reflect religious and historical practices along with community revival/re-connection. 
  * Have a concept of “soulmates” in which all individuals have a partner for life (may it be platonic, romantic, or otherwise). It’s heavily emphasized and idealized. 
    * This is an actual thing for them spiritually. It’s to the point where parts of their spiritual presence is felt lacking to outsiders. 
    * Depending on the group, they range from assimilating outsiders (whether willingly or by force) to the air bender leaving the group to be with their soulmate. 
  * Not all windwalkers are air benders (but most groups tend to have at least an 80% air bender population through various means of population control). 
  * Common use of psychedelics that have a tendency to produce “air-headed” individuals when given to younger, assimilated individuals (those born into the groups are more resistant to the long term side effects of the psychedelics). 
    * May include: Persistent Psychosis (paranoia, disorganized thinking, visual disturbances and Hallucinations
  * Are sort of considered the “dark” side of the air bending world. To the air nomads, their practices are very taboo
    * Closest thing to a boogieman - cautionary tale of air nomads who stray from the path 



(There’s more but I haven’t written it yet. But you get the gist of who they are).

I’m splitting this into a part 2 cause it is getting too long. 


	2. Differences between this universe and canon: Aang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link to tumblr post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/617884249902743552/parts-1-info-on-windwalkers-differences-between
> 
> *Please read the tags*

##  **Differences between this universe and canon: Aang**

_Aang is taken by Windwalkers at around 10yo when the air nomads realize war is brewing._

  * Because while air nomads have successfully been avatars before, they have never really had to deal with a full blown war of this scale and the avatar couldn’t afford to be a pacifist.
  * You have no idea how much the elders hated this. Again, Windwalkers were a very taboo subject
  * Aang is very ~~traumatized~~ hurt, especially so when he doesn’t see Gyatso sending him off (not realizing that Gyatso has been locked away temporarily to keep him from interfering).



_No Appa because he leaves before they’ve met._

  * I am so so sorry
  * Aang is much less stable without his animal guide. 
  * I REALIZE THAT THIS IS A PLOT HOLE UMM - we’re just going to say that the eastern air temple had to move Aang to a more secure location where he would have been better defended and better taught much earlier than canon. 



_The air nomads are wiped out around the same time, but Aang is aware of the attack on his people. He actively supported and protected survivors despite their wariness of him._

  * Aang is able to stall the complete genocide of his people in this world by sometimes successfully, and other times unsucessfully, helping scatter them to the wind (even hiding some among the fire nation, hoping they wouldn’t turn on their own people).
  * Unfortunately, much of his aid didn’t help a lot as the hunts continued for decades after the initial attack on air benders.



_Aang spends 2-3 years with the Windwalkers._

  * He receives his air-bending mastery tattoos with them.
  * The tattoos are mostly the same as canon with some minor additions/stylization on his arrows and down his spinal cord, marking him as a wind walker. 
    * The tattoos themselves connect him physically and emotionally to the specific sect he was a part of. 



_Aang spends 1 year in the Northern Water Tribe_

  * It was established that water bending was one of the easiest forms of bending for him to learn. Hence why he spends very little time there. 



_Spends approx 2 years in Omashu/traveling the Earth Kingdom learning to Earthbend_

  * He actually spends about a year in-between his earth bending training accompanying air nomad fugitives to and fro places before being forced into earth bending training. 
    * He gets a bison temporarily that stays with him up until after he completes his earth bending training. 
  * You’ll notice as this AU progresses, the mental gymnastics and hoops Aang is going to be performing.
  * ~~Earth is difficult because despite being heavily adopted into the Windwalker culture, he held very tightly to the air nomad pacifist ideals.~~
  * ~~Essentially, he worked very very hard to hold to those ideals to an extreme in an attempt to maintain his old identity of an air nomad. Using a “violent” or explicitly deadly form of bending is the equivalent of giving in when he’s worked very hard not to.~~
    * **Rescinded the above. Some aspects of this just doesn’t work with the AU anymore. Aang’s difficulty with Earth still lies with the fact that he hates confrontation and prefers dancing around the issue rather than facing it head on.**



_At this point he is very active in the war but at the same time literally no one can track him. He gets “trapped” in the iceberg when he’s 17, traveling to a secret sect to learn fire bending. No one else is trapped with him_

  * No Appa = a lot of walking or traveling by ship. He still has his glider but it’s not sustainable for long distance transport. 
  * He gets downed in a storm alone. 



_He meets Katara and Sokka briefly but errs on the side of caution and leaves once he has all the information he can get from them._

  * Primarily that there is STILL a war going on and he has been gone for a very long time. The first thing he thinks about is how much more work he has to get done (he is so tired)
  * Also, they are VERY confused by the fact that he’s wearing fire nation red and gold so neither Katara nor Sokka trust him (Katara is less so, but is cautious). 
  * Aang isn’t trusting enough to reveal that he’s an airbender (having been a part of a literal genocide - he’s not willing to advertise). He says that he’s a water bender and had been traveling in disguise before being caught in the iceberg (not far from the truth)



_He’s alone. Quite literally very very alone._

  * I’m so so sorry. The point is that he starts out in this AU as someone who has had everything stripped from him, from his very beginning to his descent into the ocean. 
  * Aang loves people. He’s grown up in a community setting since he was very little, and even more so while with the Windwalkers. It’s more than painful. 



(more later. Next part will be on Zuko - because I’m throwing him into this world with some changes as well)


	3. Differences Between this Universe and Canon: Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/618035714189295616/windwalkers-infoaang-infohere-differences
> 
> *Read warnings in tags please*

##  **Differences Between this Universe and Canon: Zuko**

_Still banished at 13 and still a very angry and rage filled individual, but not as afraid to show kindness where kindness is due. He’s a fire-head with a heart of gold. He’s still very painfully awkward and doesn’t know how to deal with people._

  * Why? He’s more exposed to the effects of war than canon!Zuko was (starvation, the genuine horribleness of some fire nation soldiers)
  * That, and he receives some additional support from some... individuals that I will not name yet. 
  * Iroh also takes more control in this world, as subtly as he can, and basically plots treason while taking Zuko around the world in guise of looking for the Avatar. 
  * The propaganda machine doesn’t stand up too well to reality. 



_Zuko is still very pro-Fire Nation but he recognizes by the time that he is 15 that his ideal is not what the country is._

  * He loves his country and his people. He’s still the same kid that stood up and attempted to protect a battalion of soldiers from being used as bait. 
  * He is fire nation, and that is a point of pride for him that he refuses to let go of. 



_By the time he’s 16, he’s nowhere near the southern waters at the time of Aang’s return._

  * He’s around the outskirts of a newer fire nation colony ferrying earth benders out and away before they could be discovered and put into labor camps. 
  * He has a reputation at this point. No one quite knows he’s the Fire nation’s exiled prince, but they’re aware that he’s nobility. 



_Fire Healing is a concept that Zuko learns and develops himself in secret, partially developed through studying air-bending and water-bending with Iroh._

  * I love the idea that Azula bends blue fire, while Zuko bends green fire. Both are signs of mastery over their respective techniques. 
  * Zuko’s source of fire comes from empathy and compassion while Azula’s comes from control of the self. Both are incredibly important aspects of bending, but alone are lacking. 



_Zuko and Iroh have a much closer relationship than in canon and Iroh is far more willing to teach him techniques and concepts._

  * Zuko pretends to be jaded and stoic to a lot of situations, but where it counts, he stands up for the people he cares about (primarily his crew and his uncle). 



_Zuko loves his sister and yearns for his father’s approval, but he’s slowly started to realize that what happened to him wasn’t right._

  * Traveling through the Earth Kingdom and other territories, he’s come across a variety of people, a lot not so good. 
  * He’s met a lot of abusive parents, ranging from alcoholics to blatantly emotionally abusive individuals. He’s always had very visceral reactions and he hates that he’s hearing his own reasoning coming from the victims/survivors. 
  * Azula is still his little sister, and he understands where she comes from though Iroh doesn’t. He’s not giving up on her easily (no matter how many times she tries to off him). 



_He’s still hunting for the Avatar... sort of_

  * It’s half-hearted at best and non-existent at worse. 
  * Them mental gymnastics at it again. 
  * He’s at war with his morality and his love for his family. It’s not a nice place to be stuck in the middle of. 
  * He’s not ready to be a traitor by turning against his “mission” (even though a part of him knows that it was a farse). 




	4. After Waking Up...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/618774987487264768/windwalkers-infoaang-infozuko-infohere
> 
> *Please read the tags*

I’m going to eventually be writing more of Aang’s backstory, but I don’t know if I should reveal it as Zuko is interacting with Aang or before I write about the interactions hmmm :/ 

This is going to be a bit silly in tone, but I’ve been setting up some dark backstory so fair warning. I’m going to be making a trigger warning list for every post now even when the subject itself is mild. 

**Trigger Warnings:** Mentioned drug use 

##  **After Waking Up...**

Aang spends a few months wandering, toeing the line of fire nation territory and just generally getting a feel for the differences between now and then. He ends up intervening and helping with day-to-day issues and other less common incidents (from “someone stole my sheep” to “I think that guy murdered my family member”). 

Zuko is an angry, righteous ball of fury. He’s the feral idiot that would stage a prison break if he sees even a HINT of injustice (and it’s up to you if he broke into the prison or was already there in the first place). 

That’s how he figuratively meets Aang or, more accurately, Aang meets Zuko. Aang notices Zuko long before Zuko notices him. At first glance, he looks like a prickly guy that Aang wants to avoid (a fire nation prince, for spirits sake), but the more he watches him the more... unreasonably attached Aang feels. 

Because he’s _kind_ when he thinks no one is looking. Because he’s _fierce_ and _righteous_ about the things that matter. 

~~Because he reminds him of the old fire nation before everything became horrible~~

Yes, this is baby’s first (second) crush at 17 - sue me - Aang sees this destructive disaster and is like ahhh finally my other half xD

You think I’m joking, but remember the Windwalker’s belief in soulmates or life partners? YEAH. Zuko is approx 5 seconds away from getting kidnapped, just so you know. 

Aang isn’t exactly stable. He’s not Azula unstable (yet), but remember how I said that there were some long-term effects for the drugs that the Windwalkers fed him as an assimilated individual? Not to mention the trauma he’s been through in between being abandoned multiple times and war in general? Aang is ridiculously lucky he chose a healer for a companion. 

(he sees things every now and then - sometimes it’s people he used to know while other times its people he couldn’t save; Zuko will eventually help him but it’s a very very long path of recovery)

That and he’s really lonely. Aang is completely alone, and he finally finds the person his cul- ahem, his sect have been saying would be there for him for the rest of his life. 

Aang can be very manipulative. He recognizes, initially, the low chances of Zuko wanting to be with him with the laundry list of faults and titles he’s collected over the years. Not to mention that Zuko is ahem fire nation. The nation that led a genocide on his people. 

(though, honestly, he’s come to the conclusion at this point that people in general were just **like that**. The nation they came from had little to do with the fact that they were likely to get him killed)

So, he begins the long game to first become Zuko’s friend and then eventually woo him. He recognizes that in the new world, he probably should have made his way to an Earth Kingdom capital (over his dead _body_ ) or the North Pole, at the bare minimum, but Aang just _doesn’t care_. 

His thought process is that he’ll grab his soulmate and a firebending teacher all in one go. Afterwards, he’ll head to the northern water tribe and deal with the war effort. 

The war has been going on for over a 100 years, what’s a few more going to change?

~~Sozin’s comet is coming and Aang is not spiritually connected enough to his past lives to hear about this until much later.~~


	5. Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/619144499842662400/i-actually-do-want-to-talk-about-the-language-for
> 
> *Read the tags please*

I actually do want to talk about the language for my ATLA Windwalker AU because it’s kind of relevant. 

**(Short Excerpt on Language in Windwalker AU)**

Prior to going into the iceberg, there was one language, but multiple dialects: fire, earth, air, and water. Other than the four dialects there were additional, mixed dialects that came from interactions between the nations and were often used by traders, politicians, and/or nomads. 

Aang can speak the earth,fire, and air dialects. He can also speak the Windwalker dialect: a mix of fire and air (we’ll call it the wind dialect). The water dialect is taught to him while he is in the northern water tribe and he picks it up fairly quickly. After his ordeals, his fluency in purely the air dialect is compromised. 

The Windwalker dialect is still very confusing to him, especially when it becomes clear that some words just don’t exist in it while some other words do (or what certain words mean to them compared to others - the Windwalker version of _love_ and _loyalty,_ for one). 

An example of this is that the Windwalkers don’t have the word _forgiveness_ in their dialect. They have _retribution_ or _reparations_. 

After the iceberg, there are three languages: Fire, Earth, and Water. Very few people alive remember the air dialect. 

The dialects that Aang is familiar with have been altered to a point that Aang kind of has to relearn them (particularly the Fire and Earth languages because he spends most of his time in those areas after his reawakening). 

Zuko is fluent with the Fire and Water languages (his mother taught him Water). He knows very little Earth until his banishment and struggles with the language even with Aang’s eventual help. He is taught the Windwalker dialect by Aang once he gets a basic idea of Earth. 


	6. Zuko's Lineage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr Post:https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/620324132478992384/windwalkers-infoaang-infozuko-infoafter
> 
> *Read the tags please*
> 
> No triggers that I can think of in this chapter.

Ima burn myself out on this AU, but until then here I am. And I am seriously more than welcome for people to ask me questions whether it’s about the AU or pointing out plot holes that I need to fill/fix xD

We’ll talk a little about Zuko in this one. But to preclude this, we have to talk about the state of ATLA’s world in the Windwalker AU. 

##  **Zuko’s Lineage**

I spoke about the main four dialects (air, water, earth, and fire) and how there were additional dialects (sub-dialects, if there is such a thing) that were a mixture of the main four in a previous post. 

The four nations aren’t as separated as they’d like to believe: 

  * There are nomad water benders that sail the Seas (as in there are no borders, _what are you talking about no one owns the ocean gtfo_ ) and have a mixture of different/other nations with them. 
  * There are pockets of earthbenders and waterbenders in some fire nation villages that are closer to the borders of the other nations and vice versa with fire benders near the earth kingdoms. 
  * Airbenders (even in canon) regularly interact with other cultures on a regular and, as a result, there is some aspects of culture from both air and other (whether it be water, earth, or fire) that bleeds into each other
  * Merchants from all nations traded and traveled over many different lands, sharing products and _culture_. 



Zuko’s family on his mother’s side is the same as in canon.

Zuko’s family on Sozin’s side, on the other hand, dates back to the very early Fire Nation colonization period, even before (before the fire islands were united under a single rule - this part is actually canon). For this AU, we’ll say that they were one of the first few families to learn fire bending from the masters. 

(Anyone notice that it’s only the royal family that has golden eyes? I’m gonna work that into this AU if it’s the last thing I do, i swear)

No one ever talks about the Fire Ladies of the Fire Nation. Sozin’s mother was water tribe in this world as a result of establishing a trade and peace agreement between the two (and also as a result of knowing Kyoshi would soon be reborn into the Fire Nation and wanting a good relation with them). Zuko has cousins within the Northern Water Tribe as do all of Sozin’s lineage. 

What, you think it’s a coincidence that they’re still standing after 100 years when the Southern Water Tribe was taken for all of it’s waterbenders? There’s a reason the only fire nation uniforms they had were more than 85 years out of date. 

(On an unrelated note, bull. Bull on Azulon ordering Ozai to kill his own son. It was a test in this world, one that Ozai failed, but Azulon didn’t live long enough to make that clear) 

No, Yue and Zuko are not cousins. I was tempted, but no, Zuko’s relation is not with royalty but it is also not with an OC (though, by now, Zuko would have a ton of family in the North Pole tbh). 


	7. Some Feel Good Future!Windwalker Aang/Zuko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weening off of pain meds and still on antibiotics eyooo. Wanted some good things for my boys. 
> 
> Tumblr post: https://dragonshoard.tumblr.com/post/620776570837237760/im-currently-tired-af-and-stuck-in-bed-for-the

Hmmm. Future windwalker Aang/Zuko cuz f I need some good things rn.

  1. Zuko and Aang spend years traveling the world, seeing the sites and trying to make small changes where they can.
  2. They are mostly apolitical well into their elder years and literally just vibing and living their best lives.
  3. They’re both the products of multiple cultures so it never sat right for them to settle down and choose a nation to technically pledge allegiance to (even Avatars were partial to their homelands).
  4. They are literally honary uncles of half the world leader’s children and have a ton of friends around the world.
  5. Zuko’s hair is long af and Aang loves to braid it. It’s half the reason Zuko hasn’t hacked it off.
  6. Aang made Zuko fire/air nomad styled engagement hair ornaments. Zuko made Aang matching bracelets plus an engagement necklace (again, in a mix of air/fire style).




End file.
